10 Study Techniques That Work

Disclaimer: I am not a licensed professional in education. But I do hold bachelor’s degrees in Biology/Chemistry/Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science, a MS in Computer Science, and an MD.

I also am a certified “nerd”.

Read on at your own risk.

We all know about active recall. One does not just passively read a textbook and magically retain information. Even those special geniuses with photographic memories don’t just skim through a page and naturally absorb it and retain it. Nothing in life is THAT easy.

But it doesn’t have to be hard. Knowing the right methods to learn is the key to succeeding in school, life, and more.

Active recall is when you engage with the material. It involves testing yourself by answering practice questions, using flashcards, and blurting. Blurting is a really helpful technique for memorization where you read a page or a paragraph, close the book and using pen and paper, regurgitate everything you just read. It helps when you put it in your own words, and use the Feynman technique to talk aloud and explain to a rubber duck what just happened.

So what I said earlier? That you don’t just memorize a page or two in your textbook and get away with it?

Somewhat true.

Don’t forget spaced repetition. Forgetting has a curve. No, not a learning curve, but a curve.

It’s called the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve.

Review at increasing intervals - 20 minutes, 1 day, 3 days, 5 days, etc

You want to review notes at increasing intervals to cement long-term retention. A lot of medical students use Anki to help them, because Anki has a spaced repetition algorithm built in where you review cards according to their level of difficulty.

Personally, I don’t like Anki. Maybe it’s because I’m a sucker for beautiful user interfaces, and Anki just doesn’t cut it for me. But, there are other methods for reviewing notes.

I use Notion. Or should use Notion.

One does not just start studying without thinking about first. Precognition is necessary. Meta learning is also necessary. Thinking about how to learn what to learn is crucial in determining your rate of success at studying.

Make a schedule for yourself. Put it on your calendar. Do some planning. When you should review your notes. What you should learn each day. What problems you should do.

The Pomodoro technique is gold. It really reinforces discipline and helps your focus and concentration, hence making sure you get your work done. You could do 25 minute intervals with 5 minute breaks, or do 50 minute intervals with 10 minute breaks, or 90 minute intervals and take the rest of the day off. Up to you.

Also about flashcards? I left that topic hanging. If Anki doesn’t cut it for you, use my software. It’s called flashwars and gamifies flashcard memorization. The app release on the app store is still pending though, TBD.

Also, about studying. A lot of people use Ipads to take digital notes. I personally love Goodnotes.

But a piece of blank printer paper and a nice gel pen works wonders. You get to doodle on the margins and scribble anywhere you want in illegible handwriting and rip it up into shreds after your focused study session.

Need I say more?

Ok, I’ll say more.

There’s also the Cornell note taking method. In Spanish class in 7th grade, we would fold notebook paper in one half, put the Spanish word on the first half, and the English word on the second half. And test ourselves by covering the “answers” section. It really works. This works the best when you’re trying to memorized word definitions and it’s great for language learning.

For biology and science though? You’re better off using flashcards, blurting, and mind mapping.

What’s mind mapping?

Take a piece of paper, write down a concept. Draw a line and connect it to a related concept. Keep on doing this until you’ve connected and associated different concepts with each other. Write down details as footnotes. This is a part of interleaving where you connect different and similar concepts with each other.

You also want to draw a lot when studying biology. There’s a ton of diagrams and processes you want to visualize and draw out.

For math and physics, you have to do a ton of problems. No other way around it. Practice is key. Rehearsal is necessary before the final exam.

For computer science, just code a lot and use the rubber duck method to explain concepts to your alter ego. Pretend you’re talking to a sentient being who wants to be as smart as you if not smarter. Except this sentient being won’t be competing with you in class and on midterms and screwing up the curve. So less competition, more pontification.

To wrap up — active recall, spaced repetition, Notion, Pomodoro Technique, Feynman technique, blurting, mind mapping, Cornell note taking method, and your sidekick the Rubber Duck.

Also, you need several tons of patience. You don’t build a knowledge base in a day. It takes a lifetime.

So, keep calm and study. You got this!